


Introductions

by Wickedrider98



Category: The Bastards Crew
Genre: First Meetings, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 05:14:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19166530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wickedrider98/pseuds/Wickedrider98
Summary: Phantomness meets a group of strangers in an alley, and discovers they have a common bond.





	Introductions

Phantomness strode through the crowded marketplace. Now that she had cooked down from her fight with Jonny, she almost considered trying to radio the ship to be picked up. But after a few drinks she decided against it. The was an entire universe out there, and she didn't want to explore it attached to a band of murderous space pirates. Well, not all the time at least. And besides, a person could only take so much Jonny D'Ville in one sitting. And she’d definitely had just about enough. She’d said she didn't care which planet they left her on, but could hardly complain with the choice. Celeste was one of the nicer planets in this galaxy, with its crystal pools (made of actual crystal), and its flourishing marketplace where merchants from every edge of the known and unknown universe came to trade their goods, she could find plenty to do. A good above ground marketplace generally meant a good Underground, and that was where she intended to stay until she chartered a ship off here to… God knows where. She slipped into an alley off the main road. There wasn't exactly a neon sign showing where the entrance to the Underground was, but she figured this was a decent place to start. This place was far different from the main stretch, and Phantomness was certain she was heading in the right direction. The tattered clothes of the passersby and dilapidated buildings that surrounded her were a telltale sign. Shoving past a group of the disgruntled lowerclass men and tightening her grip on the carved bismuth handle of her favorite dagger, Phantomness kept moving. She wasn't sure if Brian had put her here because he thought she would enjoy it or if Jonny had requested she be put on a planet he knew hated the Mechanisms, and she wasn't about to go in unarmed. Or lose her favorite knife to the pack of goons to her right that saw the masked woman as an easy target. For a moment she considered plunging the blade into the biggest one's liver to make a statement, but decided against making trouble on a new planet. For now at least. She could feel the gaze of the others on the road boring into her like a parasite. Not a feeling she wasn't used to, but definitely one she wished would stop. Phantomness ignored the urge to scream ‘yes! I have a mask! No! I won't show you what's under it!’ and ducked into what had at one point been a stone building. What she expected was to be alone, except for maybe a few lunarbugs. What she found was a white-haired woman with a gun trained on her chest. Phantomness's grip tightened on her dagger.   
“Who the fuck are you?” the stranger asked, eyes not leaving hers.   
“I could ask you the same question.” Phantomness countered. Glancing around the hovel, she surveyed her options. There was a window on the other side of the room, but this stranger would definitely have a bullet in her before she crossed the room. She slowly started to back away from the gunslinger.  
“Look,” she said, “I don't want any trouble. I'm here for pleasure, not business. All I want is to go to the Underground, buy some illicit weapons, drown my feelings in whiskey again at a cheap pub, then charter a ship and get out.”  
The stranger cocked an eyebrow but didn't move. Phantomness rolled her eyes.   
“Lovely, I leave a ship to avoid getting shot, only to get shot on a the planet they left me on,” she grumbled, “God, I bet Jonny planned this…”   
“Jonny?” the stranger asked, “Jonny D'Ville?”  
Phantomness hesitated. She was certain admitting to knowing her first mate would definitely not help her situation. But, she figured she had nothing to lose.   
“Yeah,” she responded, “long brown hair, Tan waistcoat, just looks like an asshat.”   
The stranger wrinkled her nose.   
“How do you know him?” she asked, locking a bullet into the chamber.   
“Honestly you can just shoot me,” Phantomness retorted, “it's not like it'll do anything anyways.”   
The stranger hummed in response.   
“Hmph, knows Jonny D'Ville, getting shot won't do anything… must be a Mechanism.” she muttered, lowering her gun.   
“Not by choice and I don't stay because I enjoy them. But yes.” she responded, “I'm assuming you are too then?”  
“Yeah.”   
There was a long silence.   
“You got a name?” the stranger asked.   
“Call me Phantomness. And you?”  
“Fara.”  
“Pleased to meet you Fara.”  
Fara gave a curt nod, and motioned her in with her gun. Phantomness took a hesitant step forward. She caught Fara looking at her dagger.   
“That's a nice weapon you got there,” she said.  
“Thank you. It's tempered steel, and the handle is bismuth. New Midgardian, got it before I left.”   
Phantomness unsheathed the blade and handed it to the woman. Fara looked down the blade, giving it a few swings into the air.   
“Not bad,” she nodded.   
“Fara!?” a new voice shouted from outside, “Fara, you in here?”   
“Who was that?” Phantomness asked, grabbing her dagger from the white-haired woman.  
“My shipmates.” Fara explained, “they're like us.”  
At first Phantomness thought the person who entered first was an angel, with their long wavy hair that almost hurt her eyes to look at and their billowy white dress that was sheer enough to reveal their metal legs.   
“Where have you been?” they asked Fara, “we've been looking all over!”  
“Who's this?” asked the one with short silver hair at their side.  
“Phantomness. She's like us.” Fara responded, dismissive, “This is Lise and Wren.”  
She gave a small nod.   
“Charmed.” She said, making an attempt at a friendly smile. The two newcomers waved dismissively. Phantomness clasped her hands.  
“Well,” she sighed, “as fun as this exchange has been, I've got a date with a dagger salesman who did not legally acquire his inventory.”  
As she started to leave she heard the silver haired one, Wren, say “aren't you going to stay?”   
Phantomness stopped.   
“Excuse me?” she questioned.   
“Aren't you staying?” they repeated, “there's a crew of us. We're all… like this. So far it's me, Fara, Wren, and four others: Bishop, Dani, Ember, and Hector.”  
“I see,” Phantomness's eyes narrowed, “and you want me to come?”  
“If you'd like.”   
“And what all do you do?”   
“Travel the stars,” Lise chimed in,”we have a starship. The Cassandra.”  
“You did say you wanted to charter a ship,” Fara recalled from the side.   
“That I did. And you lot seem like better travel companions than my current arrangement.” Phantomness shrugged, “eh, what the hell? I'll go.”  
“What can you do?” Fara asked from the side.   
“Sorry?”  
“What can you do? Everyone has a job, I'm Captain, Lise is Pilot, Wren is Diplomat, and we have an Engineer, a Doctor, a Navigator, and a Master of Arms. What can you do?” She reiterated. Phantomness thought for a moment, fiddling with her brass ring. What could she do? Her mind started to drift back to her days spent deep in the belly of the Aurora, sitting in the Archives with Ivy, reading and researching…   
“Archivist!” she blurted. All three Mechanisms cocked an eyebrow, “Archivist. I could be your Archivist and Historian. I spent a lot of time in the Archives with Ivy on the Aurora, I think I can handle it.”  
“She's been on The Aurora?” Lise groaned, “Maybe we shouldn't-”   
“She was. Not anymore. And she doesn't have any more use for Jonny than we do,” Fara explained, “Archivist is fine. Welcome aboard.”   
“Thank you,” Phantomness replied, “now, where is this ship of yours?”  
“Follow us.”  
She nodded and followed after her new shipmates. Something told her Jonny wouldn't be happy she'd joined another crew of people like them, but she hardly cared. She'd spent a long time with The Mechs, and though she'd return someday, maybe a change of scenery wouldn't be a bad thing.


End file.
